Acoustics of the Intonarumori

Abstract

The Intonarumori were a family of musical instruments invented by the Italian futurist composer and painter Luigi Russolo. Each Intonarumori was made of a wooden parallelepiped sound box, inside which a wheel of different sizes and materials was setting into vibration a catgut or metal string. The pitch of the string was varied by using a lever, while the speed of the wheel was controlled by the performer using a crank. At one end of the string there was a drumhead that transmitted vibrations to the speaker. Unfortunately, all the original Intonarumori were destroyed after a fire during World War II. Since then, researchers have tried to understand the sound production mechanism of such instruments, especially by consulting the patents compiled by Russolo or by reading his book ‘‘The art of noise.’’ In this paper we describe the acoustics of the Intonarumori. Based on such description, we propose physical models that simulate such instruments. The intonarumori’s string is modeled using a one dimensional waveguide, which is excited either by an impact or a friction model. The body of the instrument is modeled using a 3-D rectangular mesh, while the horn is considered as an omnidirectional radiator.